


The End of the Road

by DeanRH



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:28:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26627524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeanRH/pseuds/DeanRH
Summary: One possible ending.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6





	The End of the Road

**Author's Note:**

> Based on comments about The End of the Road poster where people thought the second silhouette looked more like Cas than Dean.

The night surrounding the Impala was as it always had been.

Stars in the sky. Empty road. Pine trees on either side of them, closing in.

Sam sat on the hood, bent over in grief.

Castiel leaned against the passenger-side door. 

It didn't seem right to drive it.

The driver's seat seemed emptier than it had ever been, and also too full -

filled with the ghost of memories.

"Cas," Sam spoke after what seemed like an eternity. "I think this is it for me."

Castiel nodded. He had figured as much.

Of the two brothers, it was Sam who could be trusted not to undo what Dean had done.

Sacrificing himself. 

Of course.

The Winchester way.

"I understand," said Castiel, in that deep-gravel voice now heavy with tears.

"Are you gonna - "

Castiel inclined his head, a slight nod.

"De - he would have wanted it," said Castiel, pain lancing through him at the word he had long adored but now could not speak. "Someone. Saving people. Hunting things."

"The family business," Sam quoted back. "You always were, you know."

Castiel raised an eyebrow.

"Family," Sam clarified.

The angel let the ghost of a smile pass across his features. Sam nodded.

Without Dean, there didn't seem to be anything to hold them together.

"Take care of yourself, Sam," said Castiel, and allowed himself to be drawn into a hug.

When Sam let go, he paused as he started to walk away.

He clapped Castiel on the shoulder. He wouldn't turn to look at him.

"For what it's worth," said Sam, "I think he loved you, too."

Castiel did not reply. He hung his head.

After a moment, Sam continued down the road on foot, leaving Castiel and the Impala alone.

The angel tilted his chin and looked up at the stars in the firmament.

He wasn't certain if he was happier knowing.

***

Castiel stood there for hours. 

_Dean is gone._

It repeated, in the beating of his now-human heart.

_Dean is gone._

In time, he thought, perhaps he would get used to it.

He took the keys out of his pocket and opened the driver's-side door.

He started the engine.

He drove down the road in the opposite direction Sam had taken.

Perhaps, one day in the future, they could look upon each other again as brothers.

Perhaps, one day, they would not feel the wound of the one who was missing, sitting between them.

Castiel doubted it.

In all the billions of years of his existence, only one word had really come to matter in the end:

_Dean._

***

There are highway legends in America, from monsters to shapeshifters to killers in the backseat. They make up the fabric of the whole.

And one legend, the wandering angel, a symbol of solitude and grief and protection, sewing the tapestry of the road together, one person at a time.


End file.
